"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'awww!' "

Mark Finkelpearl is a non-fiction television director, writer, producer, and developer with a background on the staffs of Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, TLC, and National Geographic Television. He’s contributed in his career to well over 800 hours of television. His latest work includes Velocity’s “Unique Rides” series, starring Will Castro, where he served as Show Runner and Executive Producer.

He started his career in the National Programming department of WQED/Pittsburgh, moved to Hollywood and freelanced there, contributing to TV on networks including PBS, FOX, A&E, USA Network, & Discovery Channel.

Finkelpearl joined National Geographic Television in their Washington, DC, headquarters and served as a supervising producer on the long-running "Explorer" series. He then joined Travel Channel under Discovery Communications where he was an executive producer and director of production for five years as the network grew from 25 million homes in the USA to 75 million. He oversaw hundreds of hours of television there. At Travel Channel, he was on the team that launched series like "World Poker Tour" and ”Travel Channel’s World’s Best.”

Finkelpearl next joined Discovery Channel as an executive producer in and was responsible there for the editorial and creative direction of millions upon millions of dollars worth of TV. He was the network’s production executive in charge of shows like "American Chopper," "American HotRod," & "American Casino."

After Discovery Communications, Finkelpearl jumped back to the indie production side of the desk and created and launched shows like "Car Czar" for National Geographic Channel and "Lock and Load with R. Lee Ermey" for History. He executive produced series like "The Lottery Changed My Life" for TLC and made programming for clients like HGTV & planetgreen.

Finkelpearl was co-creator of "DC Cupcakes" on TLC. The shows 30 episodes made Washington’s Georgetown Cupcake shop a regular stop on Gray Line bus tours of the nation’s capital.

Other creations include "Snipers, Inc" for Nat Geo Channel, a program about a family of American arms dealers based outside of Nashville. And he wrote and produced the H2 hit "101 Weapons That Changed the World."

He’s a member of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences (ATAS) and the Producers Guild of America (PGA). Finkelpearl comes from a family with a footprint in showbiz. His cousins include brother comics, Seth & Josh Meyers ("Late Night," "SNL," "That 70’s Show," "MadTV"), Emmy-award winning Hollywood editor, Debra Light, and Leo Robin, the Oscar-winning American songwriter who penned, among other classics, "Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend," "Blue Hawaii," and "Thanks for the Memory."

Finkelpearl is repped by Adam Leibner and Seth Lawrence at United Talent Agency (UTA)

Finkelpearl launched Treadmill Productions as a way to combine his skill for documentary production with his love of rock and roll and create meaningful media for musicians. Say that three times fast. Since launching, Finkelpearl has completed productions for Jon Dee Graham, the Weepies, Peter Case, Freedy Johnston, Susan Cowsill, and Chuck Leavell of the Rolling Stones and Allman Brothers.

Finkelpearl is a long-time music fanatic. He’s played guitar since the age of 14, he attended 80 Grateful Dead shows (putting Garcia’s daughter through a LEAST a year of college!), and he has a particular interest in Americana, alt.country, and roots rock.